Speeding motorists being trapped by the Stellenbosch municipality can now not only pay their fines online but can view their speed trap pictures on a new Web site.
Payfine.co.za is a site that has been developed by Internet development company Syntell and through it one can view photographic evidence of speeding from 13 municipalities, mainly located in Gauteng and the Western Province. At the moment only Stellenbosch allows a motorist to view the transgression and then pay the fine through the site.
Syntell executive director Roland Govender says the usual system is that a motorist receives a traffic fine in the post and then asks to view the photograph, which is usually done at a municipal viewing room. This means the length of time taken between causing the offence to receiving the fine is 30 days and then at least another one to three months to pay the fine.
"That system means that it takes a very long time for a municipality to receive its revenue. This system shortens that time because once people see their photograph they generally pay their fine immediately," Govender says.
He says there are plans to expand the site`s service to offer people the options to pay other fines online such as those received for parking and even other local authority penalties, such as not having a dog licence.
"At the moment there are very few places where motorists can pay their traffic fines," says Govender. "This inconvenience is one of the reasons there is over R1 billion in outstanding traffic fines owed to SA`s local authorities."
Payfine.co.za is based on the same technology as energy.co.za, the Web site that allows prepaid electricity customers in the greater Cape Town area to buy units over the Web or via SMS.
The non-payment of fines is a problem for many of the smaller municipalities as passing motorists either ignore their demands or find it difficult to send payment.
"Many people want to pay their fines but don`t have time to go to a traffic department to do so," says Stellenbosch director of public safety Neville Langenhoven. "We decided to offer people the chance to make payments over the Internet and it`s proving quite popular."
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